Greek MFA welcomes UNESCO designation of Feb 9 as ‘World Greek Language Day’; reactions
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Πηγή Φωτογραφίας: Eurokinissi (Αρχείου)//Greek MFA welcomes UNESCO designation of Feb 9 as 'World Greek Language Day'; reactions
The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the designation by UNESCO of February 9 as “World Greek Language Day” on Tuesday.
UNESCO’s Executive Council unanimously decided on the move in its meeting on Monday (April 14).
In a statement, the ministry said, “The unanimous adoption of the decision for the ‘World Greek Language Day’ which was jointly adopted by 87 member-states of the Organization, is the crowning achievement of long-time efforts by the Foreign Affairs Ministry, in coordination with the Permanent Representation fo Greece at UNESCO, with the scientific support of linguistics professor Georgios Babiniotis.”
“The Executive Council’s decision recognizes the universal nature and global contribution of the Greek language to humanity’s cultural inheritance. The decision underlines, inter alia, the unbroken continuity of 40 centuries of oral tradition and 35 centuries of written tradition of the Greek language, its influence on all other European languages, as well as the fact that up to the present it serves as an inexhaustible source of international scientific terminology,” the ministry added.
The official designation of the day will take place at UNESCO’s 43rd General Conference in November 2025.
PM Mitsotakis: ‘Doubly proud’ of designation
Wherever Greeks may be, they welcome with true joy the designation by UNESCO of February 9 as “World Greek Language Day”, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a post on Facebook.
Every year, he added, the world will honor the vehicle carrying the values of the country that gave birth to democracy, and that established philosophy and the sciences.
Mitsotakis hailed the act as “an undoubted success of our cultural diplomacy – as proof of the global appeal Homer’s language always had”, and beyond.
The unanimous decision, he said, to choose as point of reference and honor the day national poet Dionysios Solomos died “makes us doubly proud.” Both because the Greek language is identified with the nation’s historic progress, but also because it declares its universal human status, so that all citizens of the world may keep in mind poet Odysseas Elytis’ line, “The language given me was Greek.”
Mitsotakis also referred to the designation event earlier in the day, during his first monthly meeting with Greek President Constantine Tassoulas, who also recalled the two Greek poets to win the Nobel Prize, George Seferis in 1963 and Odysseas Elytis in 1979. Tassoulas had cited Elytis as saying in a speech in November 1979 that there is no other language in the world where the words ‘sky’ (ouranos) and ‘sea’ (thalassa) have been spoken over 3,000 years, from Homer and Plato to the present.
Androulakis statement
PASOK-Movement for Change (KINAL) leader Nikos Androulakis welcomed UNESCO’s designation of February 9 as ‘World Greek Language Day’, calling it a victory of great symbolism.
In a statement, Androulakis said the designation was a great victory because it recognized the long contribution of the Greek language to the promotion of culture in every corner of the world. “A move of great symbolism for our language, which is at the same time the language of philosophy, literature, the arts, and the sciences,” the PASOK-KINAL leader said.
He also expressed his joy that on May 18, 2024 PASOK took a leading role in this national debt, taking the initiative to ask for a unanimous resolution by the Greek Parliament and proposing a related resolution to UNESCO.
Source: pagenews.gr
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